Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: grateful
  • Music: Talis Kimberley, "Ten Years."

The end of September: four years of publishing.

Today is the last day of September, 2013.

The first October Daye book—Rosemary and Rue—was published in September, 2009. It was not my first publication, thanks to a few anthologies that managed to speed through the publishing process (Ravens in the Library and Grant's Pass), but it was my first real sale, and it was the book that opened the door that led to those anthologies. Without Toby, I don't know that I'd be in either book, even though both were edited by friends of mine, because no one really thought of me that way. Not yet.

Since September 2009, I have published fifteen books, ranging from Toby to Velveteen. I have appeared in enough anthologies that I honestly can't tell you how many; not without counting them. I have experienced the soul-crushing terror of the Hugo Awards as viewed from the front row (which is a flavor of fear that I never truly appreciated until it was wrapping its arms around me and squeezing me tight). I have written more than a million words of fiction. Possibly more than two million words. And while I have been stressed and strained and stretched too thin, I have never lost sight of how incredibly lucky I am. I get to tell these stories. I get to see my name in bookstores, which is an honor and joy beyond compare. It's never not exciting. I hope it never will be.

Thank you. Thank you so much, for reading, for talking, for reviewing, for helping, by your very presence, because without people, there would be no publication. A book that is unread is a book that falls into obscurity, and has no sequels, and has no future.

I am very tired, but I am very grateful. The last four years have been amazing. I wouldn't trade them for the world.

Now let's go steal me four more.
Tags: contemplation, gratitude, so the marilyn
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  • 159 comments

elialshadowpine

October 2 2013, 12:27:19 UTC 3 years ago

...only four years? Wow. It sure feels like longer. I remember seeing Rosemary & Rue in, I think, Borders (augh, I miss that store, we had an awesome two story one only about twenty minutes away... not that it would really help us much that we can't read physical books anymore, but still!) and picking it up to look at by virtue of the awesome cover art. It came home with us and my partner and I devoured it in short order. (I still have a lot of catching up on the series... I'm a binge reader, I buy series books as they come out and then read through once I have a whole bunch saved up.)

seanan_mcguire

October 3 2013, 16:09:07 UTC 3 years ago

I miss Borders so bad. :(

elialshadowpine

October 3 2013, 16:46:31 UTC 3 years ago

Me too. Even if I don't buy physical books at this point, it was still nice to go, get a cup of coffee/hot chocolate/other desired beverage of choice and browse. When I was a kid, and I should probably explain here that everyone in my family are Major Readers, we'd go in and browse and sometimes pick something up, but for the most part, we'd make lists of what to look for at the library because we for a very long time didn't have the money to buy ALL the books everyone (between myself, mom, sister, and dad) wanted.

All that's really left here is B&N and some indie bookstores that don't particularly carry what I like to read. B&N is constantly downsizing their books to sell giftware, and for a Nook owner, I'm still annoyed that there's no sort of encouragement to bring in your e-reader and shop in-store. Discounts on drinks or books or whatnot; anything, really. We'd stop in after a dinner out but it's been a couple years now since we've been in a bookstore, and I do miss that.